


The Disappearance of the Dancing Man

by Hyacinthus



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Post-Battleground
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 05:11:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11844627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyacinthus/pseuds/Hyacinthus
Summary: When Tyler Breeze approaches him in catering, Sami Zayn isn't sure what to expect.





	The Disappearance of the Dancing Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mithen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/gifts).



“Those pink boots are awful, aren’t they?”

Sami whirled around, facing a serious-looking Tyler Breeze. “Uh, I hadn’t really noticed?” he offered. Maybe Maria’s boots were awful, but that was nothing compared to her and her annoying husband with their constant “love-ins” blocking his way. They were having one now, actually; Maria was laughing lightly at something Mike had said before moving to eskimo kiss him.  
  
Sami frowned as he watched the two of them snuggling in catering without a care. All that PDA, getting in the way of what other people were trying to do, and just a little — a little too sexual, if Sami was being honest —  
  
“And all those kisses are pretty silly too.” Tyler’s next sentence jolted Sami out of his thought spiral.  
  
Sami was a bobblehead, his nodding was so furious. “They’re terrible! And they just don’t stop. They do it everywhere. With their little love-ins” — he made air quotes around the word — “they think they’re so cute, but actually it’s annoying, and they’re getting in everyone’s way. Yesterday Shinsuke told me they were nuzzling each other up against his rental car!”  
  
“Terrible. Just awful. I meant the ones on their clothes.”  
  
“Oh.” Sami smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Those were ugly too, Tyler was right about that. He still wasn’t sure why Tyler was talking to him — shouldn’t he be in that office of his? Or issuing those fashion tickets? His thought train was interrupted when Tyler moved a little closer, invading Sami’s personal space.  
  
“They’re on the board, you know,” Tyler said, looking into Sami’s eyes.  
  
“The board?”  
  
“You know. The board.” The staring was getting a little creepy now, Sami thought, and he squirmed uncomfortably under Tyler’s gaze.  
  
Tyler broke the eye contact, muttering “right. right,” to himself. Maybe he’d cracked a little when Fandango had vanished. He hadn’t been on Smackdown when Fandango had disappeared for the first time, but Dean had sent him a text of  **he like this in nxt??** along with a picture of a disheveled Tyler in the middle of a mess of caution tape.  
  
“The board is where we keep information on all our” — Tyler dropped his voice to a stage whisper before the final word — “suspects.”  
  
“Oh, cool. Suspects, yeah.”  
  
“Yeah,” Tyler said. “You’re on there too, you know.” He said it matter-of-factly, like it was obvious that Sami should be on the Fashion Police’s suspect board, which it absolutely wasn’t.  
  
“What do you mean I’m on the board?” Sami’s voice was a little too loud, betraying his offense. “Why am I on the board? Red, white, and black is a great color scheme! I’m fashionable! You know who should be on the board, Baron Corbin with that three wolf moon thing he’s got going on, or — or The Ascension, there’s a fashion disaster —”  
  
“It’s the hat,” Tyler interrupted, rolling his eyes.  
  
“The hat? But the hat is great!”  
  
Tyler just looked at Sami for a long second, pursing his lips. “That hat is — it’s unrelevant to why I’m talking to you.”  
  
Sami mouthed  _unrelevant_  to himself as Tyler continued. “I need your help.”  
  
“You need my help.”  
  
Sami didn’t get to say anything else after that, because Tyler grabbed his arm and started walking him out of catering. Sami was befuddled enough to go with it; Tyler didn’t seem like he meant any harm, and Sami could break his hold easily if he needed to.  
  
Tyler let go of Sami’s arm after they were out of catering. He glanced back to make sure Sami was still following, saw he was and kept walking. Tyler didn’t say anything but Sami could see a little bit of tension fall from his shoulders. Tension was something anyone who'd spent any amount of time in a ring was familiar with. Working through injuries, not knowing what match you were going to be in, worrying about pay and time off. Though, Sami thought, the biggest headaches he’d ever gotten from wrestling had been because of other wrestlers. Tag team partners. He imagined Tyler was feeling similarly right now.   
  
“We’re here,” Tyler said, and he slipped into a room with Sami on his heels. Sami hadn’t known what to expect out of the Fashion Police headquarters, but the room seemed fairly normal. There were boxes piled in corners, a coffee machine on one of the tables. The board that Tyler mentioned was displayed prominently.  
  
Tyler hadn’t been lying; he was on there, but so was half of the Smackdown roster. Given the amount of tickets the Fashion Police had given out, Sami wasn't surprised. Somehow they had procured a headshot of his, and it was taped up to the board with 'The Red-Headed League' in bold letters underneath. A photo of Becky Lynch was next to him.  
  
Sami turned his head to one side, then the other, trying to make sense of it all. There was certainly nothing about his hat up there, not like Tyler had said. And why was he with Becky Lynch? Did Tyler and Fandango think they had a conspiracy going on based on hair color?  
  
While Sami was preoccupied with the board, he could hear Tyler rummaging around the office. When Tyler exclaimed ‘A-ha!’ Sami turned to look.  
  
“Is that a deerstalker hat? And you were talking about my hat being a fashion faux pas? C’mon, man!”  
  
Tyler placed the hat firmly on his head, looking at Sami as if he were quite stupid. Not really a good look for someone who wanted his help, Sami thought.  
  
“I need your help detectiving.”  
  
“Because —”  
  
“Dango is missing and I need help finding him and you’re the only person who might listen to me.” The words dropped out of Tyler’s mouth like bombs, explosive and quick. He grimaced once he was done, the tension back in his frame.

Sami ran a hand through his hair, looked at Tyler’s face. “I’m the only one?”  
  
“Everyone else is mad at us or has their own stuff. You’re a nice guy. I figured you’d help. You were always helping out people back in NXT. And when we find Dango we can help you out. Tell the canoodling couple all of their fashion sins.”  
  
Sami considered it, saw in his mind’s eye Maria screeching while Fandango and Tyler showered her in tickets. It was a nice image, and if anyone deserved to be told off for their fashion, it was Maria Kanellis and her tagalong husband.   
  
“Okay. I think we can help each other out.”  
  
“Awesome, man.” A smile lit up Tyler's face; it was the first time Sami had seen Tyler look happy today. “You won’t regret this.”

Sami wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. No one had thanked him in a while; not for his match plans, for holding the door for them, for anything. So he nodded. There was still one lingering thing, though.

“So what’s with the deerstalker hat?”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “I told you, we’re going detectiving. So I’m gonna be the greatest detective of all time.”

“Wait, does that make me Watson?”

“Only until Dango gets back. The game is afoot, Watson, let’s go!”

“Hey, that’s not—” but Tyler was out the door before Sami could say fair.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](praetorian-guard.tumblr.com)


End file.
